Birmingham travel delays: 'Vandals' bring CHAOS to thousands at major train station
VANDALS are thought to have brought chaos to thousands of Birmingham commuter journeys this morning.
Vandals have caused major delays at Birmingham New Street station
Many rush hour services through the city’s New Street station were delayed or cancelled because of a major power failure to the signals.
Virgin Trains, London Midland, Arriva Trains Wales and CrossCountry trains were all affected and passengers were warned to avoid travelling unless “absolutely necessary.”
This afternoon Network Rail issued a photograph showing damaged cables along with a message stating that “vandalism was likely cause of today’s signalling failure.”
Chris Denham, from Network Rail, said: "We've had a problem with the power supply that lights all the signals up just south of Birmingham New Street which has been ongoing for several hours now."
The scene at Birmingham New Street this morning pic.twitter.com/TjuzKwswB8
— Jessica Labhart (@JLabhart_star) April 11, 2016
Workers starting trying to repair the damage at about 4am and disruption is expected to last until the early evening.
Last week thousands of journeys were disrupted due to damage to overhead electric wires near Birmingham Airport.
@LondonMidland Vandalism suspected cause rail disruption at Birmingham New Street say... https://t.co/7BCeHlAZYK pic.twitter.com/abEh0m21xN
— London Midland News (@LM_Newsfeed) April 11, 2016
It has recently been announced that Birmingham Airport will get a new regular service to Doha, flown by Qatar Airways.
The airline will fly eight times a week to the capital, which is one of the host cities of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.